It is that time of the year when energy levels are high, and most of us are pumped and ready to take on the new year with determination and vigour. However, it rarely works out the way we want it to. Research from the University of Scranton found that only 8 % of people are successful in achieving their New resolutions. By the end of January, most people have given up. If this is you, if you struggle to maintain the high energy and focus that you had at the start of the year, maybe you need to rethink how you set your goals.

In this post, I am going to outline three major principles of goal setting. Take these into account and work on them intently, you should notice a difference in how successful you are at achieving your goals in 2019.

Get Clear

The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is regulated.” – Edwin Locke

Getting clear is essential, in fact it is crucial. If you vague, unclear goals, how do you expect to achieve anything at all? For example, if you were playing football, and it was unclear where your actual goal was on the pitch, how on Earth do you expect to work towards scoring a goal. You need to know where the goal is. Otherwise how can you make plans to achieve it?

Write your goals down clearly, for example, you want to lose weight. Decide how much weight you want to lose, decide on an exact number and and decide when you want to lose this weight by. Then you can start working on plans to hit that target.

Achieve Less

It is tempting to write down a whole mammoth list of goals. However, setting smaller, more focused goals will give you the time and space to truly focus on achieving them. Simplify your goals and achieve less by the end of the year, but at least if you the goals are less, you will achieve more. Think about it, if you are not accustomed to achieving anything by the end of year. Then setting thirty or forty goals for the year is just not realistic. Set yourself one major goal in each area of your life and work on those goals with focus and intention.

Make Clear Deadlines

Set very clear deadlines for each goal. Do not just say “ I want to buy a house this year.” Say when you want to buy a house and where you want that house to be, and how much you are going to spend on that house.